Playing In The Blinds

Things you will learn:

• Why 'blinds' are important in a game of poker
• How and when to defend the blind

Blinds in Texas Hold'em 'force the action'. Without any blinds or 'starter money', there would be little incentive for an intelligent player to make the first bet, even with a very good hand. If everyone else folds, he's won nothing. Without blinds or antes, the first bet is merely a target and the other players could safely fold without an unbeatable hand.

By forcing the player to the dealer's left to post a small blind (SB) and the player to his left to pay a big blind (BB - usually double the small blind), Texas Hold'em becomes much more interesting and action-filled.

Each hand begins as a battle for the blinds. Once that battle begins, the pot starts growing and the reasons to play grow, too.

Low-stakes games rarely end with the first raise; in high-stakes games, especially No-Limit tournament final tables, the first raise often does end the hand. Even though blinds serve a purpose similar to antes, they function quite differently. Antes are 'dead money'. Anteing merely entitles you to receive cards; you still must make a bet to engage in the action. If you post one of the blinds, though, your money counts as a bet (it's 'live').

If you post the BB, and no one else plays, you win the hand. You won't have won much, though - only the SB (which is half the size of the BB). While any win helps, more often the fact that your blind money counts as a bet will make getting involved in many other hands easier, because you're getting to play for a discount price.

In Limit poker, it initially seems easier to defend the blinds because the investment odds are usually better. The button can't raise as much, so you don't face as much immediate pressure. The problems in analysing Limit poker defending don't end there, though. It's much harder to win the pot with a re-raise, because the amount you're re-raising isn't enough to knock out someone who had raised from the button; even if he was stealing, he'll usually call and look at the flop.

Similarly, when you get a favourable flop, you can't usually win it with one bet. You will have to risk seeing a turn card and make a second bet. In Limit poker, the raiser can't put as much pressure on you, but you can't put as much pressure on them. You'll probably have to attack them twice and be out of position each time.

That's why even though the relative cheapness makes it first appear easier to defend the blinds in Limit poker, before the hand is over, it winds up being probably just as hard as in No-Limit or Pot-Limit. You just face a different collection of problems.

Playing the hand out of position on the flop, turn and (if you get that far) the river is a huge disadvantage. Each time the opportunity comes to bet, you are going to have to act first. Your opponent will have more information than you when it's his turn to act and that's very bad news.

Suppose you call and you do hit the flop. Do you bet? If you do, your opponent still has most of the power and options. If his hand missed the flop, he might concede and you'll only win the money that was in the pot to start. If he hit the flop too he can raise and now where are you? Do you call a re-raise? The problem will become even more troublesome on the turn.

You bet the flop, but your opponent didn't go away. Assuming the turn card doesn't help you, where do you go? Do you bet again, hoping to scare your opponent off? Do you show weakness by checking? To win the hand playing out of position is just far harder than most people realise.

Worse still, when you do win, you usually win much less than you could have won if you had been the final player to act, rather than the first. Because of the position problem, most players defend their blinds far too often. They see that they already have some money invested and are getting a 'discount' on their call, but fail to think the hand all the way through. They may be getting a discount, but they are getting a discount on damaged goods. Efforts to show that you can't be 'pushed around' in the blind can be very costly. Most players would win much more (or lose much less) if they defended their blinds less.

Because good poker advice is rarely black and white, you shouldn't turn into an easy target every time you hold the blind. If you don't defend at least occasionally, you can be certain that you will be attacked every time, and that will cost you more money. The occasional call, or better still the occasional re-raise, will alert the late position players that your blind is not free for the taking.

Given that you must defend sometimes, what sort of hands should you defend with? There is no simple guideline like, 'You should defend your blind 31% of the time' as how much defending you need to do is a factor of how much attacking the other players choose to do. Some defendable hands are obvious, however. If you get dealt a big pair or A-K or A-Q suited, your hand practically plays itself. If you won't re-raise with those hands, you're too timid to play winning poker.

Unfortunately, you won't be dealt these strong hands as often as you need to defend your blind, so you'll need to select some other hands to defend with. Choosing the right hands is very important and many players instinctively make the wrong choice.

Even though A-4 is a better heads-up hand than J-10, you're much better off defending with the J-10. Why? On many occasions when a late position player attacks, if he has an ace, it's a big ace. That means that if you get the 'apparently' good flop of A-9-5, you might wind up losing a fortune to someone who was raising with A-K. Even though aces and kings look like excellent 'defending' cards, unless you have a strong kicker, you run too much risk of finding yourself in a 'dominated hand' position.

A hand like J-10 is less likely to contain the same key cards as your attacker's. If an ace hits the flop, you can get away from your hand. If the flop comes 10-4-2, the player who raised you with A-Q has nothing - and it is far more likely that a late position raise will come from someone holding two big cards than from someone holding a big pair like K-K.

As a result, 'unpredictable' but potentially useful hands like J-10 or even 5-6 are probably better defending hands than something like A-2 or K-3. If you play A-2 and an ace flops, you'll only get action when your hand is in big trouble. If you play something 'tricky' like 7-8, you might wind up crushing someone who raised from late position with A-K when the flop comes A-7-8.

You can also win pots from A-K raisers who are afraid to slow down when the flop comes 8-3-2. You'll pay dearly if the raiser held K-K, but again remember that late position raises are more likely to come from players holding two big cards than from a big pair. Naturally, if the raiser held K-K and the flop comes 8-8-3, your call with 7-8 puts you in position to win a fortune from players who don't expect you to be holding an eight.

The next important point to consider when defending your blind is in a sense a variation on the pot odds question: how many people have attacked? If in a Limit game a mid-position player raises to $60, and three players flat call that raise, the first thing you should do is realise you've found a good game, because flat-calling two bets is usually a weak play. If your hand is strong enough to call two bets, it is probably strong enough to take the initiative to make it three bets.

Let's leave the juicy game issue aside, though, and realise that the multi-player situation changes your pot odds considerably. With four players in for $60 and a folded $15 small blind, the pot contains $285 when you ponder putting in the extra $30. These pot odds are so wonderful that you can call with almost any kind of reasonable hand; you could even call with something as woeful as 3-2 (but not 7-2 - against multi-player fields, you want hands that can make straights or flushes).

Most of the time, your weak hand will be worthless on the flop, but when you do hit it, the rich pot tends to get richer. Players will stay in with you, chasing for the size of the pot, and instead of $285, you'll probably win $500 or $600 in a limit game.

The key points to remember are:

• Most players defend their blinds too often, but you must defend often enough to ward off automatic attacks
• It's marginally easier to defend your blind in a Limit game or in a multi-way pot, because you are receiving much better pot odds. But that still doesn't make playing the blinds a winning position
• Most players fail to recognise the huge inherent weaknesses involved when playing the remainder of the hand out of position; a decision to defend involves consideration of what will happen on future betting rounds
• Defending doesn't just mean calling; attack is often the best form of defence. Often, it is correct to 'defend' with a raise
• When selecting hands with which to defend, be wary of hands that are likely to be dominated, like aces or kings with bad kickers. Look more favourably on connected middle cards or small pairs